NEW YORK (AP) — After composing some of the most famous soundtracks in history, and winning multiple Academy Awards, John Williams has been welcomed into a more rarefied institution: the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
The academy announced Thursday that Williams was among 19 inductees voted into the honorary society for musicians, authors, artists and architects that was founded in 1898, with members over time ranging from Mark Twain and Toni Morrison to Leonard Bernstein and Alice Neel. Others elected this year include another prominent film composer, Terence Blanchard, the Grammy-winning jazz musician who has provided scores for many Spike Lee films, prize-winning novelist Alice McDermott and the multimedia artist Matthew Barney.